<p>So, today in the mail I received a little postcard asking me to attend a little seminar. Its from Exploring College Options and states that Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Penn, and Stanford will be there to answer questions you have. It's May 9th, and it's like a mile away from my house, so distance is not an issue. </p>
<p>I already registered to go, and I am mainly going for Stanford (#1 choice applying REA this fall). </p>
<p>Question is:</p>
<p>Has anyone ever gone to one of these events?
What should I wear?
What should I expect?
Does it help me in college admissions? (especially Stanford)
How many people generally show up?</p>
<p>Thanks.</p>
<p>I have been to two with my niece and will be attending one in May with my daughter. They are information sessions about the schools. They send an admissions rep, show a video and talk about the school and the admission process.</p>
<p>It did not help her get into Duke but it gets you on the mailing list if you show interest at the sessions. Any high school student can attend, so its not a selective process.</p>
<p>“Has anyone ever gone to one of these events?
What should I wear?
What should I expect?
Does it help me in college admissions? (especially Stanford)
How many people generally show up?”</p>
<p>My D and I attended the same session last year. You should wear normal clothes. Anything you would generally wear to school. Expect to have the representatives from each school talk for about 10 minutes about their school. They will show slides and go over the basics. Tell you what they are looking for in a student, etc. It will absolutely NOT help you in admissions, except for the information they provide. The event in my town was quite large. There were a few hundred kids and parents there. They only held one in the whole city, and seemed to send out a wide net to kids from all high schools.</p>
<p>I recommend you go and listen to what they say. You also have the option after the sessions to ask specific questions of the representatives, but be prepared to wait in line. Overall, I thought it was very informative for both kids and their parents.</p>
<p>It’s more an opportunity for you to learn more about the schools. These schools are selling a product, so it makes sense for them to want to advertise it.</p>
<p>A really general overview of the schools, mostly for those that know nothing about these institutions. Pretty exciting though to think that you might have a shot at any of these schools (which should be considered mostly a reach for all but the most kick a** applicants).</p>
<p>Be Forewarned: the Stanford rep will be the least excited and most disinterested of the bunch. This is a TRICK! They know they have the hottest product out there, most commonly cited “dream school”, so it seems they try to avoid building up any more frenzy for Stanford by intentionally acting a little less eager to get your app than say, Georgetown.</p>
<p>By all means though, check it out…</p>